NextFest: Playground

Digiwall
Interactive Institute
This musical climbing wall redefines the notion of holding notes. Developed in the sonic studio at Sweden's Interactive Institute, DigiWall pairs physical activity with playing a keyboard of sorts: Its computer-controlled sensors light up and sound off with every hold. Creative rock hounds can use the detachable handgrips and footholds to design climbs suited to any skill level while composing personal soundtracks that play through the wall's seven-channel surround-sound system. Artistically challenged climbers can instead make like Spider-Man and play one of DigiWall's preconfigured games. Each interlocking section (3 feet wide and 8.5 feet high) can be stacked against an existing wall or assembled as a freestanding unit at adventure parks, sporting facilities, and high-end hotels.

This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be missing content or contain faulty links. Contact wiredlabs@wired.com to report an issue.

Sound Flakes
Tokyo Denki University
Turn the rainbow-colored faucets to "drip" sounds into a large basin of water. The corresponding light projections appear to float on the surface like so many multicolored snowflakes. These so-called Sound Flakes are interactive: You can stir them or scoop them up with the exhibit's ladle.

Nabaztag
Violet
This rabbit talks, sings, wiggles, throws disco-colored light, and rattles off weather and stock market reports it gleans from the Net. At NextFest, French artists Antoine Schmitt and Jean-Jacques Birgé show off their Nabaz'mob, a chorus of 100 bunnies programmed to perform an original opera.

Here’s The Thing With Ad Blockers

We get it: Ads aren’t what you’re here for. But ads help us keep the lights on. So, add us to your ad blocker’s whitelist or pay $1 per week for an ad-free version of WIRED. Either way, you are supporting our journalism. We’d really appreciate it.